News, notes and maybe a little snark from the world of Breyer model horses.

Friday, August 19, 2016

Chasing the Chesapeake!

One of the news items released earlier this week was news of the "Chasing the Chesapeake" event coming in mid-October. From the Breyer website:

Breyer is off to Maryland this fall for our annual Collectors' event! To kick-off the weekend, we'll head to Elkton for a tour of Vintage Farm at the Fair Hill Training Center featuring Michael Matz, show jumping legend and trainer of the beloved Barbaro and Belmont winner Union Rags. Following the tour, we'll head over to the Fair Hill International Cross Country Course for a course - walk hosted by some of Saturday's competing riders. The night will conclude with a Maryland inspired dinner in the exclusive Fair Hill VIP tent! On Saturday morning, we're headed back to Fair Hill to spend the day on course with some of the biggest names in eventing. After an exciting day of competition, we'll return to our host hotel for fun dinner and early Halloween Costume Contest. Cap off the weekend with exclusive models created specifically for Chasing the Chesapeake.Entries are limited to 200 Collector Club members. Not a member? You can sign up here!Tickets to the event will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis. Stay tuned to Collector Club News for the date and time. Please note that participation in this event will require a significant amount of walking outdoors and cross country over uneven ground and gravel surfaces. Please take this into consideration when deciding to purchase your ticket to attend.

Itinerary*

Friday

Tour of Vintage Farm @ the Fair Hill Training Center, Elkton, MD

Tour the farm where champions like Union Rags got their start and meet Olympian, show jumping Hall of Famer, and esteemed trainer Michael Matz.

Fair Hill International Cross Country Course Walk, Elkton, MD

Get a behind the scenes look at how riders prepare for competition day as you accompany them on a course walk.

Dinner in the Fair Hill International VIP tent

Saturday

The Dutta Corp Fair Hill International 3-Day Event, Elkton, MD

A day out at the cross country portion of the 3-Day competition and watch the riders compete the course you got to walk first hand!

In true cross country style, lunch will be served at our very own tailgate tent.

Dinner and Halloween Costume Contest at host hotel, Wilmington, DE

Bring your favorite costume for an early Halloween bash!

Sunday

Exciting stuff! I'm still investigating whether we'll be able to attend. I'm scheduled to work that weekend, but I might be able to pull some shenanigans and make a whirlwind trip out East. The itinerary already looks like the event is being planned better than Sweet Home Chicago was. The best-laid plans of mice and men oft go awry, of course, and this IS Breyer we're talking about, so something will be bungled. Let's just hope it's only minor things.

On to special run speculation! Where to start? With an eventing theme, I'm guessing many of the SRs will be on Breyer's Thoroughbred and/or Warmblood models; Ruffian, Smarty, Carrick, Cigar, Show Jumping Warmblood, Lonesome Glory, maybe a Flash, Totilas, Valegro, Salinero, etc. It would have been nice if they'd revealed what Chesapeake is right away like they did with My Kind of Town last year, but maybe next week we'll get more info.

It's disheartening that they would wait until 2 months before the event (again) to reveal any information about it. We get it, guys, you like to play your cards close to the chest, as it were, but it makes it hard to plan anything with such short notice!

It's also interesting that they went back to the first-come, first-served system with the tickets. I personally liked the random draw better, simply because it avoided any issues with the tickets going up for sale and then selling out before I even got a chance to see them. The tradeoff, of course, was the nerve-wracking wait until the first draw, not getting picked (but hubby was), then another nerve-wracking wait to be picked from the wait list. So, maybe first-come first-served will work better. The tickets to Passage to the Pacific took a while to sell out, so maybe that will be the case with these, too. Especially if they're priced at $295 or higher.

I am really excited for this event and hope I get to go! I'll be eagerly awaiting more details from Breyer. Gimme my pony crack now!